Biography of Father Marian Jędruszak

Description:

Born into a peasant family in 1891 in Balbierishkis [Balwierzyszki], Suwaƚki province. Finished gymnasium in Mariupol and then graduated from the Catholic Seminary in Zhytomyr; ordained in 1914 for the Diocese of Kamieniec. Served in the churches of St. Anthony and St. John Nepomucene in Zbrzyż, outside Kamieniec Podolski. One of the documents in the investigatory file says the following Fr. Marian’s work in the parish: “The priest Jędruszak tended four religious communities with a total of 3,500 faithful, divided into eighteen groups in the villages of Czemerowec and Smotryczew regions. The communities belonged to the Roman Catholic rite. The largest community had approximately 970 members, and part of the villages of Orinsk region belonged to this community. The Kutkowec community had approximately 1300 faithful.” In 1924 he was arrested in Zbrzyż and sent to Kamieniec Podolski Prison, but soon released. Prior to 1925 he was arrested more than once and released. September 28, 1927 – again arrested; exiled within the USSR but beyond the bounds of Ukraine for five years. At the beginning of the 1930s he was released from exile and returned to Kamieniec Podolski. November 26, 1931 – again arrested; charged with “anti-Soviet agitation, illegal contacts with Poland and cooperation in contraband operations.” In December 1931 he was transferred for further interrogation to Kharkiv Prison. November 11, 1932 – sentenced under Articles 54-6 and 54-10 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR to five years in corrective labor camp [Special Troika, GPU Collegium, UkrSSR]. Sent to Belbaltlag, Kuzema Station on the Murmansk Railroad; granted an early release in 1933. Returned to Ukraine, served in Malyn, Zhytomyr oblast, where he was once again arrested in 1935, but released after five months in prison. In 1936, after the closing of the church in Malyn, he was without work and moved to Zhytomyr. September 7, 1937 – arrested, charged with “counter-revolutionary activity among the Polish population and dissemination of provocative rumors.” September 17, 1937 - sentenced to death under Article 54-10 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR [Special Troika, NKVD Directorate, UkrSSR, Kiev oblast]. September 24, 1937 – shot, in Zhytomyr Prison. Source: Archive of Directorate, Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kiev oblast; GARF, f. 8406, op. 2, d. 1666; Osipova (1996), pp. 166-167; Investigatory Matter 1733 fp, Archive of TsGAOO (Ukraine); Sokolovskyi, pp. 71-72; Dzwonkowski, p. 268; Parafiial'na gazeta, 1995, no. 63, p. 8